The Portrait: Part Two

Keiko watched her mother pulled down the pink curtain on her bedroom window. She just couldn't wait for her mother to finish what she was currently doing to read her bedtime stories - it was what she always looked forward to every evening.

"Hurry, okaa-san!" She wailed, the book her father had just bought her was clutched in her chest.

Her mother softly laughed as she looked at her. Keiko was wearing her pink and blue pajamas, her braided hair was in a complete mess and her eyes bore the childish excitement brought about by fairy tales.

"Okay, honey. I'm already finished. Now, you untie your hair and let me get a comb." Her mother instructed.

Keiko impatiently loosened the red ribbon that held her hair. Her chubby, little fingers worked its way through the tangles. "I'm done! There's no need for a comb!"

"Of course there is." Her mother said as she sat beside her. She gently combed Keiko's hair until it shone. "Now, we 're ready. Lie down and let me read that book to you."

Keiko eagerly obeyed and gave the hardbound book to her mother.

"Okaa-san, do you think I'm as pretty as Rapunzel?" Keiko asked as she referred to the girl in the front cover of the book.

"Of course, you are honey. I bet even Rapunzel would wish she has those big brown eyes of yours."

"Really?"

"Yes. There is no doubt about that. And someday, I know, when the time is right you'll meet your knight in shining armor." Her mother said with a smile.

"Really? Like you met otoo-san?" Keiko said dreamily.

"Yes. And I promise you, it would be just like magic." Her mother assured her.

"Tell me what happened to Rapunzel, okaa-san." Keiko said as she ducked lower her blanket.

She watched her mother opened the book and once again, the ever-familiar beginning of fairy tales brought her thoughts to the magical land of knights and damsels. "Once upon a time…"

"Damn him!" Keiko muttered angrily as she shut her locker with bang. The impact of the metal on another metal made an annoying clang - making heads turn to look at her. But she didn't care. She was boiling up inside and she couldn't care less why almost everyone was already staring at her. And everyone was - well just a few students.

She walked purposely towards the stairs. Her bet was that Yusuke was probably be on the rooftop again sleeping his lazy head off. She had a really strong feeling that the next time she sees Yusuke, one of them would get bruised - and it would not be her.

After climbing four stairs, she reached the door leading to the rooftop and much to her rage and disappointment - Yusuke was nowhere to be found! If she was boiling a minute ago, then she should be evaporating as her anger soared up to another 100 degrees.

"Where the hell is Yusuke!" She angrily screamed to no one. She traced her steps back to her locker again and went to peek at every room she passed by to look for Yusuke. She even went to the canteen, to the headmaster's office, to the faculty room; she even crashed to the boys' restrooms and still - NO YUSUKE.

"You ask him for one favor. Just one! Just ONE! And he couldn't get it right!" Keiko was talking to herself aloud.

"And what's worse. He didn't just get it wrong - he forgot about it!" She continued her litany. She reached the school ground while dragging her bag with her left hand as she surveyed the whole area. It was already two hours after dismissal and most of the students had gone home. There's one place she hadn't searched yet - the back of the school building.

She walked briskly as she turned to head for the back of the school. And just as she had expected - Yusuke was there. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and an unlit cigarette was between his fingers. She walked straight in front of him and stopped at exactly one and a half feet away from him. She expected him to open his eyes but he didn't. She impatiently waited for his game to be over, her feet tapping.

But after five minutes - Yusuke still haven't opened his eyes. She leaned a little to look at him closer, she heard him snoring softly. Damn! Yusuke was sound asleep - give it to him when it comes to sleeping in any position, even standing.

Keiko's right hand went up and landed flat on Yusuke's left cheek with a mean slap. She watched a startled Yusuke woke up and looked surprisingly at her.

"Wh-what happened?" He asked, his brows deep in a frown.

"Now, you have the nerve to ask me what happened!" Keiko screamed, another mean slap landed on Yusuke's cheek.

"Hey, hey. Stop it. What did I do now?" Yusuke asked as he distanced from Keiko.

"Now, you have the nerve to ask me what did you do?" Keiko was enraged! She just couldn't believe Yusuke. How did she ever survive all those years she spent with him?

"Uh-oh." Yusuke muttered as he remembered what he had forgotten to do.

"Uh-oh? That's all! I waited for you in front of my locker for two solid hours, Yusuke! Two hours! And that's all you can say - 'uh-oh'? You're unbelievable! How about trying 'sorry' for a change? But I guess that isn't in your vocabulary! Maybe if you spend half the time you spend on sleeping on studying basic ethics - I guarantee that you'll be a perfect gentleman! But then again, the word gentleman is the complete opposite of YUSUKE!"

"Hey, I didn't mean to do that, I fell asleep." Yusuke tried explaining his side.

"Oh, you fell asleep? So, sleeping is excuse enough for ditching me?"

"I didn't ditch you."

"And what do you call that!"

"I slept." Yusuke said simply. As if it was reason enough.

Keiko threw her hands up in exasperation. She just couldn't argue with someone who has a gigantic hole in the head. She decided to leave the subject alone.

"Now, where is it?" Keiko asked. Her voice calmer but still with a hint of anger.

"Where is it what?" Yusuke asked dumbly.

"Where's the darn charcoal I asked you to buy me?"

"Charcoal?" Yusuke asked blankly.

"The pencil, Yusuke! I asked you to buy me that charcoal pencil I will be using on a project. You know very well that I can't go anywhere besides school on weekdays. That is why I asked you to buy me that pencil. And if I remember it right you said you will!" Keiko impatiently informed him.

"Oh! The pencil!" Yusuke said nodding his head.

"So, where is it?"

"Gheez, Keiko. I totally forgot about it." He said apologetically, his eyes wasn't meeting hers. He remembered how he swore to her that he would buy her the pencil last night on the phone.

Keiko just stared at him. She just couldn't believe it. Without saying a word she turned away from Yusuke. She was already exhausted arguing with him. She just couldn't scream anymore. Numbly, she headed for home.

"Hey, Keiko! I really didn't mean to forget!" She heard Yusuke said but she didn't turn back. She kept on walking alone and thinking of Yusuke and his empty words. For the umpteenth time, she asked herself why is it she trusts Yusuke. Why she even considered him her friend when it was obvious she means nothing to him.

When she reached her front step, it was already dusk. She had changed her uniform and helped a bit on the house until their house retired for the evening.

Keiko sat on top of her bed. She held a small charcoal in her hand as she stared at the unfinished drawing of the boy in the canvas in front of her.

"What is it that I see in you?" Keiko silently asked the boy in her drawing. The drawing just stared back at her. She felt stupid when she realized that she was waiting for the drawing to answer her back. She shook her head and began to work on the drawing again. She was already having a hard time on the charcoal pencil - it was already too small. But again, she had to finish the drawing. Five days to go before Yusuke's birthday. She still needed to get the drawing framed and wrapped before she give it to him.

Yusuke. It was stupid of her to actually want to give him a birthday gift after what he had just done to her. But then, he always annoyed her. What she couldn't understand was that why was she always putting up with Yusuke.

Maybe because she believed in fairy tales. And somehow deep inside her heart she knew Yusuke was her knight in shining armor. What made her believe that? Maybe because deep inside she knew Yusuke loves her - the same way she loves him. What made her believe that? She didn't know.

She smiled to herself as she remembered Yusuke's gift to her on her last birthday. He gave her a lollipop. A strawberry-flavored lollipop. Yusuke knew it was her favorite as a kid. It was just a candy and him giving it to her was just a simple act but for Keiko it was one of the sweetest things anyone had done for her.

But Yusuke never admitted liking her in a more-than-a-friend kind of way. Maybe he himself didn't even know that Keiko was his damsel in distress. Yes, that was it! He was too blind to see she was perfect for him and that he cares for her as much as she cares for him.

A devious smile formed at her lips as a thought crossed her mind. So, Yusuke doesn't know she was the girl of his dreams for NOW. But soon he will. She never read a fairy tale where the princess plotted a plan to make her prince realize she was perfect for him. What she will do now is her own original fairy tale. It's a foolproof plan to get Yusuke realize he loves her. A perfect plan to get her knight in shining armor.